Track Record

If you happen to know where to look, you can discover today’s bold statement by New College trustees asserting they are now going to follow the law. The public statement did not go out to the school alumni e-mail list, isn’t posted on the school website, and was not as far as we can tell sent to the press. Of course, after twenty plus years of deliberately subverting the law, one might ask why we should trust them now. Good question.

At any rate, the one interesting item in the board’s otherwise dull announcement is the appointment of Dr. Francisco Leite as interim Chief Financial Officer of New College. Dr. Leite, seen here posing with New College president Martin Hamilton, is the Vice President of University Center of Campo Grande—New College’s sister school in Brazil.

The appointment of Dr. Leite brings to three the consultants hired by New College to create the appearance of complying with the law. The other two, Greg Tanaka and Martina Ayala — both of Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena — have only begun to grace us with their presence. Given this less than auspicious beginning, one can hardly be blamed for harboring doubts about the trustees’ sincerity. I mean, they do have quite a track record.